Tech roundup: Chicago makes a splash in the Inc. 500, 1871’s diversity program, and more

by Alton Zenon III

August 16, 2018

image via home chef

These 11 Chicago tech companies made the 2018 Inc. 500

The Inc. 500 list highlights fast-growing private companies around the country, and a total of 11 Chicago tech companies made the cut this year. Front-runners include Home Chef landing at No. 3, followed by RedShelf at No. 121, Strike Social at No. 165 and G2 Crowd at No. 179. Click here to see the full list Chicago tech companies that made the list, and where they ranked. [Built In]

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Thousands of Chicago AirBnb hosts cancel services following city notice

Chicago’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection emailed 2,400 Airbnb hosts in the city informing them they need to remove their listings from Airbnb’s site within a week or face fines. Hosts were told information regarding their addresses was missing or outdated, standing in the way of obtaining necessary short-term rental permits. Recipients of the rejection notices are required to clear things up with Airbnb before re-listing their properties. [Chicago Tribune]

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Xplore Technologies acquired by Zebra Technologies

So many technologies. Zebra Technologies, a big data firm offering enterprise solutions to healthcare, retail, manufacturing and other industries, acquired durable tablet producer Xplore Technologies this week. Xplore’s product offerings fall in line with Zebra’s mobile computing and data capturing capabilities. The initiative will allow Zebra to scale its business and reach a wider customer base. [Business Wire]

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Industrious increases Chicago presence with purchase of Assemble

Local firm Assemble, who owns co-working spaces in Wicker Park, Old Town and the West Loop, was recently purchased by New York-based coworking company Industrious. Industrious already owned three spaces in Chicago prior to the Assemble acquisition, and it plans to continue expanding within the area in the future. The company’s new Windy City spaces bring Industrious’ national office count to 33. [Chicago Tribune]

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Dais Technology gets $9M funding

Dais Technology, a data-driven insurance platform, has raised $9 million in funding, according to a regulatory filing. [Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story stated that Dais did not respond to a comment request. Built In Chicago did reach out to [email protected] but received an error message stating the email could not be delivered. We regret the error and any confusion it may have caused.] [Form Ds]

Three Chicago organizations, 1871, Sales Assembly and Victory Lap, have banded together to address a lack of diversity in the city’s tech industry by creating the Diversity Leadership Training Initiative. The joint measure is a free-to-join, two-month program for salespeople of diverse backgrounds, which allows them to learn from various high-level sales leaders across the city in classroom settings. Companies including ActiveCampaign, Showpad, SpotHero and Sprout Social have agreed to participate, and Brian Bar, CEO of Victory Lap, will head the initiative as program manager. [Press release]

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The Nerdery, Cars.com and 10th Magnitude make new executive hires

Adrian Slobin was appointed CEO of The Nerdery, a consulting agency that provides digital solutions to companies across industries. Slobin, who was the company’s chief strategy and operating officer following his departure from SapientNitro after 17 years, has extensive experience building relationships with companies across industries like healthcare, hospitality, automotive, retail and telecommunications. [Global Newswire]

Cars.com, the online auto marketplace, has a new chief strategy officer in former YouTube employee, Matthew Gold. Previously, Gold acted as head of strategy and operations for emerging market product partnerships for the video site. In his new position, he will work to effectively align all the Cars.com brands and develop the company’s long-term growth strategies. [PR Newswire]

10th Magnitude, a provider of cloud-based IT solutions run through Microsoft Azure, recently named Ira Bell as chief technology officer. Bell has two decades of experience leading IT teams and has co-founded a string of companies, the most recent of which was the job board software company Recruit Media. He was named Microsoft’s Azure Partner of the Year in 2013 and will aid in growing the company’s portfolio. [PR Newswire]